Le Pen seeks allies in the Czech Republic

The French far right politician Jean Marie Le Pen, whose recent visit to Britain caused enormous controversy, is now visiting the Czech Republic. His presence in the country is interpreted as an effort to forge closer ties with ultra-right parties and movements in the new EU member states. However, following the decline of Miroslav Sladek's Republican Party several years ago, there is no ultra right party or grouping on the Czech political scene with any influence on public affairs. So what kind of response can Mr. Le Pen expect in the Czech Republic? Zdenek Zboril from the Institute for International Relations in Prague thinks that Mr Le Pen is not of much interest to Czechs.

Le Pen seeks allies in the Czech Republic

Jean Marie Le Pen, photo: CTK

"First of all Mr. Le Pen is a bit of an obsolete European politician. He is relatively very well known among a small group of right wing extremists -which is no more than 3,000 men according to police registers but only 300 to 500 of them are what you would call "active". I am convinced that if there is prosperity and people are satisfied, neither Mr. Jean Marie Le Pen nor any other populist, nationalist or extremist will be able to influence anything."

At this point nationalism is weak in the Czech Republic. What are the reasons for this?

"We are a little bit lazy in this respect. Czech nationalism is moderate. However, the National Theatre exists as a symbol of the Czech nation, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is another symbol of our identity and Prague Castle is something similar. So it is moderate but it exists."

Now, looking at nationalism on the European scale - do you think that European integration will fuel nationalism or that it will curb it?

"Primarily, the misconception of the European Union as a great state based on the federal or con-federal principle is completely false. The European Union is a great space for negotiations and concluding of agreements in the future. And if the mass media present the EU as a great state then it is possible that they will revitalize nationalism as an ideology of opposition to this concept, but it has nothing to do with the political reality of the present day. Just now it is on the level of this psychological interpretation of European politics - or if you want to put it that way - on the level of demagogy. "